Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Lamb in His Bosom (Pulitzer Winning Novel)

She was like to lose her mind, for she kept thinking that breaths were like threads on a mighty loom, drawn tight, woven among one another, broken singly as each life reaches its frayed or short-ending. She could hear the treadle of the loom knocking in her ears—but that was her heartbeat…

Lamb in His Bosom by Caroline Miller won the 1934 Pulitzer Prize for the Novel. In the novel Miller tells the story of Cean and her family, who live in the South around the time of the Civil War. Cean and her husband Lonzo produce fourteen children, a number of whom die before Cean. Her brothers and parents have their own triumphs, tragedies and mysteries.

I easily became emotionally involved in the book. The characters are relatable. The plot is a little slow by today’s standards. I was bothered by the mystery of Lias, Cean’s brother; the structure was so unlike the rest of the book. All-in-all this was a pleasant book.